Mat.



J. P. DONOVAN.

MAT.

APPLIoATIoN FILED 14.1.3.5. 1909.

977,789. Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

UNI I Ml/IHNEN WTNESSES- /NI/ENT'o/e. C? M KM' f m BY ATTORNEYS.

rarer.

JOHN P. DONOVAN, OF WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

Application filed March 5. 1909. Serial No. 481,291.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, .Ici-IN I). DONOVAN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Westfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Mat, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to improvements in floor mats, commonly termed door-mats, and consists broadly and generally of bundles of some material as scrap leather, and of suitable holding or confining means for such bundles, all as hereinafter set forth.

The objects of my invention are, first, to produce an exceedingly durable mat which is especially well adapted, by reason of its peculiar scraping-surfaces, to remove thoroughly mud and dirt from the soles of shoes wiped thereon by their wearers; second, to provide a mat of this kind both sides of which are available and equally serviceable, and, third, to afford means for utilizing to good advantage and for a useful purpose waste material, such as the short lengths of trimmings from belts and other things made of leather, which has heretofore and in great measure been a source of some considerable trouble if not actual loss. By thus utilizing the strips or strands of leather that are too short to possess other value than as fuel, unless subjected to a more or less expensive treatment whereby their form is very completely changed, I am able to produce a1 most excellent mat at a comparatively small cost. I attain these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a reduced plan View of a mat which embodies a practical form of my invention; Fig. 2, a cross-section on lines 2 2, looking in the direction of the arrow, in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a perspective view of one of the metallic collars which may be employed for confining the bundles of filaments or strands; Fig. 4, a side elevation of one of such bundles with its confining collar; Fig. 5, a perspective view of one of said strands, and, Fig. 6, a plan view of a modified form of binding-strip with which the collars are not required.

Similar figures refer. to similar parts throughout the several views.

For the filling, tufting, or scraping-surface material of my mat I prefer to use leather strands, as already intimated, cut into uniform lengths, one such length being clearly shown in Fig. 5. After being cut to the proper length, these laments or strands, 1, are formed into bunches, bundles, or sheaves 3 of substantially uniform size, and confined by means of suitable bindingstrips in a suitable frame. The strands 1, of which each sheaf 3 is comprised, are held together about their middle portions by either a collar 4 or a binding-strip 5. IVhen the collars 4 are employed, they are secured between recessed binding-strips 6, and in any event the binding-strips are fastened together side by side by means of transverselyextending tie-rods 7 and a frame made up, in the present instance, of two side-pieces 8, two end-pieces 9, and four corner-pieces or angle-irons 10. Each collar 4 has an opening 11 between its ends, and is provided at both edges with outwardly-extending flanges 12 which receive between them the rims of semicircular recessI 13 in the bindingstrips 6, when such collar is compressed on a bundle of strands 1 to form a sheaf 3.

In making up each sheaf 3, with the aid of one of the collars 4, the collar is compressed so as to bring its ends quite close together, if not entirely closing the opening 11 in said collar, and thus tightly bind said collar about the center of the bunch of strands 1. This may be done either before or after cutting the strands to the proper length. But in making up the sheaves 3 in the binding-strip 5 the strands 1 are drawn tightly into holes 14 in said strip before being cut to length. I'n both cases the strands are held so securely in place that they cannot be withdrawn by any ordinary force, and they are arranged to project the same distances both above and below their confining medium in order to permit either side of the mat into the construction of which they enter to be used with equal facility.

The semi-circular recesses 18 are so located in the edges of the binding-strips 6 that, when said strips are placed side by side with the recessed edge of one contiguous to the recessed edge of another, 'said recesses come opposite each` other so as to provide round openings for the collars 4 with their sheaves 3, such openings being just large enough to receive said collars inside of their flanges 12, after the collars have been compressed to close or partly close the openings 11. Then when the binding-strips 6 are fastened together with the collars confined between them, as shown in the first two views, the

sheaves 3 are securely held in place, regardless of the position of the mat or of the usage to which it may be subjected. This last is also true oit' the sheaves when formed as shown in the last view.

Any number of tie-rods 7 may be employed to assist in holding the bindingstrips 6 (or 5) together. These rods are passed through transverse passages in the aforesaid binding-strips, after said strips have been properly assembled, and fastened at the ends in some suitable manner as by having the rods of suiiicient length to project beyond the outer longitudinal edges of the assembled strips and bending over such projecting ends of the rods, as shown at 15, in Fig. l. The over-turned ends of the rods 7 may be Countersunk in the aforesaid edges of the outside binding-strips. Any other of the well-known expedients for fastening tie-rods may, of course, be applied to the rods 7.

The sideand end-pieces 8 and 9 are of channel formation, and they receive the outer edges of the assembled binding-strips between their flanges, in the usual manner. In order to lighten the structure, portions of the flanges of these channel-irons can be omitted, especially from the side-pieces 8. The ends of the frame pieces S and 9 are mitered. rIhe frame comprising the aforesaid channel-iron pieces is completed by means of the corner-pieces 10, there being one of these corner-pieces riveted at 16 to each end of each side-piece 8 and screwed at 17 to each end of each end-piece 9. With the frame about the assembled binding-strips and the screw 17 at each corner tight, the mat is complete and ready for use.

The size of the mat will necessarily depend on the length of the binding-strips and the number employed of such strips.

While the frame herein shown and described is strong, light and serviceable, I do not wish to be restricted thereto, either generally or specifically; and it is obvious that numerous changes in shape, size, and minor detailsofconstruction, in addition to those already pointed out, may be made in my mat without departing from the nature of` my invention.

I am aware that short rubber cylinders or thick rubber disks have been forced into confining plates and so employed in the construction of mats, also that indented errules with which to confine bristles in the art of manufacturing brushes are old, and do not claim a construction of the nature of either of these. Y

That I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A mat comprising a plurality of bundlesfof strands, each bundle being held together by a confining collar of pliable material compressed around such bundles, the rings being provided with annular exterior flanges and a plurality of binding strips having recesses in their longitudinal edges to receive s aid collars between their flanges and hold the same in position ,and means for binding said longitudinal strips together, substantially as shown.

2. The combination, in a mat, of a plurality of sheaves of leather strands arranged in bundles with confining collars of pliabley material split from endl to end and compressed around the centers of such bundles, a plurality of binding-strips arranged with their longitudinal edges abutting and having perforations to receive said sheaves, tie-rods connecting said strips transversely, and a frame around Athe outside of said strips to secure them in position, such frame comprising flanged side and end pieces and angle pieces fastened to said side and end pieces adjacent their ends. Y Y Y y l JOHN P. DONOVAN.

Vitnesses:

F. A. CUTTER, A. O. FAIRBANKS. 

